Avalanche warnings

[heyjude]

There have been a number of avalanches coming down in the back country all over BC. Avalanche risk is currently HIGH. PLEASE Check conditions before you go anywhere and make sure you use your common sense before going into any questionable or unfamiliar areas.

There is a link to the Canadian Avalanche site on the SnowandMud main page, left hand side, with further information and avalanche condition updates.

Ride safe, guys.

 

[Sledderglen]

Thanks for the concern Judy. As we all know things can change real fast in your life. It is time maybe that we step back and take a good hard look at the conditions and rethink.
The hills will still be there another time they havn`t moved in millions of years so just wait it out till conditions improve. Stay home and spend time with your family. JMHO

 

[ferniesnow]

I went for a little ride today in Elkford just to see what the new rain/snow brought us. We had rain all night in town and 6-8" of heavy wet in the alpine. Wow is all I can say.....

Smith Basin had 6 avi's down and still lots that haven't come down. Guess what? Those are going to come down, period!!

The trail into Koko has a big one down about 40' above the trail. The end of the run-out is at least 15' high. This has slid already this year and went full path. Surprising that there was this much snow up there but it is an eye opener. Other chutes on the main trail had climbing marks on them today. Are these people suicidal??

In Mear Basin, there was no evidence of avi's but I didn't go all the way into the back. One of the bigger basins had fresh high marks on it today. This hasn't slid yet this year. Are these people suicidal??

Some people are having a hard time getting the point this year, period. It appears that there are a lot of BC areas like this. Sorry to say this guys and gals but there will be more fatalities this year because sledders aren't getting the point.

Please ride safe and come back home to the loved ones....

 

[Modman]

...Are these people suicidal?? ....Are these people suicidal??

Some people are having a hard time getting the point this year, period. It appears that there are a lot of BC areas like this. Sorry to say this guys and gals but there will be more fatalities this year because sledders aren't getting the point. ....

Not suicidal, just ignorant and stupid. And its not this year, its ignorance and stupidity every year, but this year the conditions are super extreme. We were out just out on the lake doing some tuning yesterday, watched a whole mountainside come down from about 3 km's away and guys were climbing and highmarking within 1 km of where it happened on the same aspect (south facing).

We dug yesterday and found the north facing slopes to be more packed and stable than the rest but still able to fracture with enough force. Here's what we saw on the south facing slopes:

The south facing stuff was all the stuff that was moving yesterday and the two avy's that we saw actually happen (and the evidence of several others that we also saw) is that this stuff is moving to the base folks!!!! I am talking all the way to the ground! Read the avy reports, they talk about massive avy's that could slide all the way to the base - this is your worst nightmare and ITS HAPPENING!!!! That deep weak layer that never settled is still there and its got too much weight on it now (saturated snow). This seems to be the main failing point where we dug, right at the interface of the sugar snow and the overlying layers that are more consolidated.

The southfacing slopes that slid looked very fluid when they moved from our distant vantage point and I bet that snow at the bottom was like concrete. There was not a lot of snow dust associated with either slide, I'm guessing by the snow conditions that we experienced later in the day, that these slides were almost saturated and very heavy. COME ONE GUYS AND GALS!!! If you get buried in something like what we saw yesterday it will be your COFFIN!!!! We got stuck at 6 pm (on the trail out, of all places) and the snow was so wet that you could almost squeeze water from it (4500 ft elevation). Good luck shovelling that stuff, especially after it has slid. People are crazy and just don't seem to have a clue. Couldn't even begin to understand what these guys were thinking yesterday. It was just unreal, can't think of other words to describe it.

I will try and post pics tomorrow of the big one when I can get them off the camera. Had to zoom in a long way so not sure about the quality.

Seriously folks, I grew up sledding in southern BC and have seen my share of avy's and talking from experience here, make no mistake about it (and tell your friends) because I'm not bull$hitting you, if you get caught in a slide in these bad conditions (which will probably only get worse in the next few weeks), you probably won't live through it.

 

[elephant rider]

ain't it funny what nice weather will make a person doo??? 12:00-2:00PM worst time of day to be un-aware!!!!!! kinda like a little lesson for us all!!!!

 

[BIGFOOT]

.... Everything was sliding in Westridge in Valemount..... These were not South facing slopes !

 

[elephant rider]

WARM TEMPS!!!!! NEW SNOW!!!!!! CONVEX SLOPES!!!!! SUN EXPOSED!!!!! TERRAIN TRAPS!!!!!! TRIGGER PIONT!!!!!! RELEASE!!!!! FRACTURE!!!!! TONGUE!!!!!!! RUN_OUT!!!!!!! does anyone else want to add to the words going through my head when I'm riding?????

 

[maxwell]

rode blue river...north blue on saturday...awesome day but the slides were bad.

my friend managed to ride one out. we were being safe and are trained

2 other guys we talked to were barried and there friend dug them out.

and also a man died in north blue while we were there. BIG slides this weekend

 

[Modman]

Here's the pic of the first one, the pic of the second one didn't turn out (took it facing the sun almost, looks white).

Quality might have suffered on the downsizing of the photo, if you want a better pic PM me your email.

 

[Grizzly4323]

Rode Allen Creek Sat/Sun. Didn't see much for slides on Sat but the potential was extreme. Went back on Sun and saw several slides going in and several more new slides when we were coming out. Most we noticed to be north and west facing. Just wait for the heavy south facing slopes to let go. There gunna be big...
Can you imagine how many of those slides had high marks on them. I DON"T GET IT!!!!! It's incredible that alot more people didn't mowed over this weekend.

 

[cobbycat]

we rode Eagles pass yesterday and there were soooooo many BIG avalanches. it was like riding through a mine field!!! SCARRY CHIT!

PLEASE BE CAREFUL AND MAKE GOOD CHOICES!

 

[Billy Boy]

Was up at Silent Pass on Saturday and seen a couple of smaller avalanches and one that was quite a good size. There was a sledder highmarking when the bigger slide let loose luckily he noticed it and was able to get out of harms way. Now I am not the most experienced sledder, but to me what the h@&% was that guy thinking, that was a full south exposed slope so the sun would have heated it up and made it quite unstable. Why would he even think about trying that climb, Go figure???? but it gets better just to the west of that area there were sledders highmarking underneath a good size cornice, it gives you a creepy feeling, but you know there was lots of area to climb, boondock or whatever with out putting youself in harm's way. As it was mentioned earlier either some of these sledders have a death wish or maybe alot of testosterone and very little common sense???? You would think after what has happened this season people would be a little more cautious?? anyway we had a very good day of riding with nice weather and great snow conditions. We also heard from other sledders at the hotel that other areas such as Quartz and Gormin were having a lot of slides, infact we heard there was a partial burial at Quartz. Be careful out there as the conditions are very unstable.

Billy Boy

 

[Thunderr]

My bro in law was flying the bombers at Chatter Creek on the weekend and he was saying just the weight of the explosives was triggering avy's. One of which was a class 3, he's never seen it this bad. Scarey.

Stop, think, be responsible, don't put others in harms way due to your ignorance or stupidity.

Cheers

 

[RETODD]

Heading up to Valemount this weekend, waiting for AV Canada to update their site, was 4 - High on the weekend but has been downgraded for Sunday & Monday of this week.

Read that snow was letting go in Westridge…how about Clemina or Allen…anyone ride the more challenging terrain in either of these areas last weekend? Did they get snow since we were last there on the weekend of the 14th? Or are the spring time conditions starting to rear their ugly heads?????

 

[scotts]

Toddbd01
Yes to both your questions. there was alot of new snowfall on thursday friday above 4500ft. with the clear skies on saturday and suday and a large solar influence there was alot of slide activity in every terrian, Didnt seem to matter north or south slope,windloaded and cornice failure all seemed to be active.